China Trademark Dispute with Apple: We Own the iPad Trademark

Trademark lawyers are known to be zealous advocates for their owners marks. But Apple’s lawyers will not quit by appealing the court ruling in China that rejected its ownership of the iPad trademark in that country. Last month, the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong Province ruled that a local company, Proview International actually owns the trademark in China. According to Apple, they bought the rights to the name legally from a UK-based company known as I.P. Applications. I.P. Applications had previously purchased the mark from a Proview subsidiary in Taiwan. But the Chinese court ruled that the Proview subsidiary did not have adequate rights to sell the trademark. Proview’s main Shenzhen-based company did not attend any of the meetings or negotiations to sell the trademark.

Apple is asking for 4 million yuan, or $636,204, from Proview, in addition to the transfer of the name. Proview has filed two trademark infringement lawsuits against Apple demanding that they cease using the iPad name.